THE ANSWERS

All Right Everyone- I will break the suspense and answer all of my grammar questions. Even my grammar friend Kimi was a bit stumped, so I'll help you all out. This will hopefully help you sleep better at night.

TOME: A large book, especially one in a multi-volume scholarly work.

So, the key is that it is usually one of many in a series and it is a large book about a deep subject. I will try to use this word a few times to cement the definition. Or maybe I'll just pull one of my many well-read tomes out of my personal library and peruse through its pages.

That vs. Which

You should use "that" when introducing an essential clause.

You should use "which" when introducing a non-essential clause.

Easy! Examples:

THAT: I do not trust products that claim "all natural ingredients" because this phrase can mean almost anything.

(We would not know which products were being talked about without the that clause.)

WHICH: The product claiming "all natural ingredients", which appeared in the Sunday newspaper, was on sale.

(The product was already identified, so the which clause is not essential.)

Many times, which clauses can be separated with commas, because they are nonessential.

You can also use "which" if you have already used that, these, or this at the beginning of the sentence.

That is a decision which you will have to live with for the rest of your life.

That makes sense. We don't want two "thats" in a sentence do we? How awful would that be really?

Finally, it is I WISH I WERE. However, the grammar purists also concede that when so many people begin using I wish I was, the language starts to evolve and so now, both could probably be used. I, however, am such a purist that I want to know how the English do it. That's how I do it. I'm just pure like that :)

So friends, grammar nazi is going away for a while before I lose all of my close friend readers. Until next time... or as Jacob Foster would spell incorrectly.....ADIEU.